My understanding is that the definition of a rookie is a driver competing in their first full season and I've stuck with that despite the fact that I think sometimes it seems a bit unreasonable to make comparisons when some drivers have had a half season as well. I think I have it right, though open to corrections.

Mine is Vergne. I don't think he's the most talented of the rookies or has the most potential. He was impressive to me because IMO he raced as well as, if not better, than Ricciardo who had a half-season of experience towards the end of last year. He didn't make as many mistakes as the others, and although I expect rookies to make mistakes and overdrive the cars, I think credit where it's due to rookies who don't.

im gonna give my point to Pic. Grosjean...... No.... Ricciardo, has had some experience already and imo didnt impess me all that much. Narain, cant really be called a rookie, hes been around for a while. so it was between Vergne and Pic for me. and Pic gave his more experienced team mate Glock a run for his money which is why he got my vote

Both Romain and Nahrain have had previous in F1 (if not necessarily a full season) so I'm writing them off. I've been more impressed by Daniel than by Jean-Eric but I'd probably go with Charles Pic on the same basis as Khazrak:

Khazrak134 wrote:

im gonna give my point to Pic... gave his more experienced team mate Glock a run for his money which is why he got my vote

I still rate Timo and felt that he deserved a better drive after Toyota withdrew from F1. For Charles to keep him honest, that's pretty good going in my eyes.

Ricciardo. By a mile. 17-3 in qualifying says a lot.Pic was good but Glock was still better overall.If vergne was as good as people think then Dan might be a match for Vettel one day.Ricciardo also developed his racecraft in 2012. He was consistently in the points in the second half. In Brazil they chose him for the 'wet experiment'. Why? Consistency..

I am a supporter of RoGro, so I voted for him on the basis of that he got quite a few podiums and until the summer break was actually doing quite well in terms of points and nearly winning in Valencia.

Bruno Senna had a full season with Hispania Racing in 2010 (apart from the British Grand Prix) and he did 8 races with Lotus in 2011 so I don't think it would be reasonable to to class him as a Rookie for 2012.

The poll should only have Vergne and Pic, all the others are not rookies, really stupid putting them on the poll. It don't matter what car they been in or what, they have all been in F1 for enough time to not be considered rookies. The only rookies this season are Vergne and Pic. I'm sure we don't need to spell out the definition of rookie.

The poll should only have Vergne and Pic, all the others are not rookies, really stupid putting them on the poll. It don't matter what car they been in or what, they have all been in F1 for enough time to not be considered rookies. The only rookies this season are Vergne and Pic. I'm sure we don't need to spell out the definition of rookie.

To be fair, the OP did set out the criterion he was using - not having competed in a complete F1 season and he did express reservations about it.

On that basis, Narain Karthikeyan and Nico Hulkenberg are clearly ineligible: Narain did a full season with Jordan in 2005 and Nico did a full season with Williams in 2010. Bruno Senna is technically eligible because Hispania dropped him for 1 race in 2010. Romain Grosjean is eligible because he only did 7 races in 2009. Daniel Ricciardo is eligible because he only did 11 races for HRT in 2011. There is no question about Jean-Eric Vergne and Charles Pic as neither had done an F1 race before 2012 - but my vote goes to Pic because unlike Vergne, he had not even been an F1 test driver.

The trouble with the OP's definition of a rookie is that it means that Grosjean will still be eligible next year (if he gets a seat). After all, thanks to his 1 race ban, he still hasn't done a complete F1 season!

The criteria used by Autosport is that of a driver in their first full season. So whilst I take your point that for some this was not their [i]first[/] season, based on that criteria it was their rookie season. I did explain that in the initial post. I also went with that criteria because I didn't think a poll of Pic vs Vergne would be very interesting for discussion and I also felt that people could factor in the greater experience when making their decisions.

theferret wrote:

How is Narain included in this list? He has a full season at Jordan in 2005 AND raced in half of the 2011 season for HRT.

I voted Pic. Stacked up very well against Glock.

I did indeed make a mistake with Karthikeyan. I knew he'd had part of a season with HRT in 2011 and thought he had had another season somewhere but only checked back as far as 2006. Doh! Fortunately I didn't think he'd be on anyone's lists anyway.

Grosjean, then Pic. I've become fans of both. I genuinely wasn't impressed that RoGro got the drive before the season started, but I've become a big fan of his... so that makes him my rookie of the year. Pic has also gained my support with some good drives and randomly beating the Caterhams in one of the quali sessions. So, them two for me.

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Gotta be Pic simply because of how close he has been to Glock all season and how consistent he seems to have been. That race where he outqualified his teammate and both Caterhams was phenomenal. I have never really seen what all the Ricciardo hype is because Vergne has outscored him with less experience and has had some very good races (admittedly with poor qualifying).